Abstract

Some social stigmas (facial scars, tattoos) have clear visual cues and eye tracking has shown that such social stigmas influence the eye movements of other people. Other social stigmas (e.g., a mental illness or a criminal record) often lack clear visible cues. The present study investigates whether providing information about such stigmas draws eye movements of observers to the people involved. Participants were presented with video clips and advance information about one of the actors that was either stigmatizing (related to mental health or a criminal past) or non-stigmatizing. The results show that eye movements towards the target actor were not systematically affected by stigmatizing advance information and were not associated with explicit attitudes from questionnaires. Results therefore suggest that stigmas without clear visual cues do not draw attention to or away from the person involved.